Andrew Painter Proves Why He Is A Top Prospect In AAA Debut

It has been a while since the Phillies had a prospect with as much hype as Andrew Painter. Bryson Stott was a top 50 prospect, but not a top 5 one like Painter. You would have to go back to 2017 and JP Crawford for a highly regarded prospect. Before him, it was Dom Brown back in 2011.

Those two did not work out very well here. J.P. Crawford was fine, eventually got traded for Jean Segura, and has been a solid, not spectacular, MLB player. Dom Brown had one amazing month, but was otherwise a bust.

The Phillies have had poor prospect luck for a while now. The 2008 team was mostly homegrown. But the core of this team started their careers elsewhere. The exceptions are Aaron Nola, Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott, etc, but the biggest names came here via trade or free agency.

Andrew Painter will eventually will eventually get the chance to buck that trend. For now, he is in AAA, where he made his first start on Thursday. While there were some hiccups, he proved why he is a top 5 prospect.

Painter spun 3 scoreless innings. He retired 8 of the first 9 hitters he faced, striking out 5 of them. One of those strikeouts was against the consensus top prospect in baseball, Red Sox Outfielder Roman Anthony. All 5 Ks came on his curveball, meanwhile, his fastball touched 98.

The last out of the 3rd inning was when things slightly unraveled. Painter rarely walks hitters. He walked only 1 hitter in 4 starts down in Clearwater. He walked the bases loaded with 2 outs in the 3rd inning. But you can tell the most about a pitcher when they pitch through adversity. If they are struggling, how do they battle back?

Andrew Painter responded well. He got the next hitter to pop up, getting out of the jam. He handled the adversity like a pro, something he talked about after the game.

The plan was for him to go 4 innings. The ugly end to the 3rd cost him that chance. But we got to see why there is so much hype for the 22-year-old. His stuff plays. The fastball is great, but that curveball will be a weapon at any level.

Even when he comes up, it likely won't be until 2026 that you see him fully unleashed. They are going to be careful with him this season after he missed the better part of 2 years with an elbow injury. Ramp up is an ugly word in Philly right now, but that is what Painter is going through.

Word is they want him to throw 120 innings this year. He is up to 14 through after a little over a month. If all goes to plan, expect him in Philly in July. From there, he might be a 5-inning guy. If he still has innings left, maybe he comes out of the Bullpen in October.

But even with those limits, there is good reason to be excited about the kid. Thursday night was proof of that. Andrew Painter has special stuff. Jayson Stark compared him to Gerrit Cole. That is the type of pitcher the Phillies are eventually calling up. Now we know he also has the mindset to pitch through adversity.